Slade School of Fine Art Degree Showcase 2020 - MA/MFA

UCL

Max Blotas

Max Blotas (b. 1993) is a multimedia artist based between London and Paris

His work addresses the relationship of landscapes and communication technologies through self-sustaining digital and biological networks.

Max Blotas’ installations often take the form of hybrid ecosystems using electronic equipment mixed with organic life forms. He creates interconnected computer-controlled environments located inside industrial containers and surrounded by a technological landscape of digital devices and motorised sculptures. The miniature sets inside the boxes are continuously monitored using digital surveillance technologies and transmitted live onto remote displays. The image reveals shifts in human perspective and makes tangible parallels between digital content and the surrounding reality.

The subjects inside the network are constantly being distorted by an assemblage of causal links, retroactions, multiplicity of scales and loop effects generated by computer. These physical shifts allow the viewer to render the tangible infrastructure of the network, by exposing the multitude of realities and micro events that take place simultaneously within.

During the exhibition (Nor sad or glad the bouncer can’t read it all, and remember that your body comes first, for old love at bubble rock & crappy creek, take me home spinning blossom it might not last ) that is taking place in London throughout June 2020 Max Blotas installation has been in constant evolution. Water is pumped and transferred from outdoor reservoirs to several clusters of environments controlled by a computer. By analysing environmental sensors, algorithms trigger devices and sets of loops in an attempt to sustain life within the artificial landscapes contained in the installation. Bacteria and weeds have been slowly invading the juxtaposed sets, see through crates stacked on top of each other. A tree-like robotic structure, that stands in front of the outdoor access where the water enters, is symbolic of a human figure, slowly splashing water with a motorised leaf. The work operates on differing parallel time frames and by geographic shifts throughout the exhibition. A network of cameras stream at different rates transmit scenes from inside the boxes to on an online platform. These moving images, consequences of the autonomous system, produce and reveal their own soft realities through pixelated windows of tension.

Instagram: @maxblotas

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"Nor sad or glad the bouncer can’t read it all, and remember that your body comes first, for old love at bubble rock & home swamp crappy creek, take me home spinning blossom it might not last"

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Max Blotas

, 2020, installation - mixed media.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

15397-original-2_Blotas1_BlotasNor_sad_or_glad_the_bouncer2.jpg

"Nor sad or glad the bouncer can’t read it all, and remember that your body comes first, for old love at bubble rock & home swamp crappy creek, take me home spinning blossom it might not last"

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Max Blotas

, 2020, installation - mixed media.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

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For old love (cheap blowjob - offer expired) - reproduction of sexual graffiti found in Pompei

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Max Blotas

, 2020, engraved plastic (ABS), aluminium stand, LCD light panel.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

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The bouncer (spinning blossom remember that your body comes first)

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Max Blotas

, 2020, speaker stand, electric wires, thrones, cable management system, silicone pipes, steel mesh, fossil, blue tack, blackberry leaf, thornes, water, motor, micro-controller, car light glass panel, plastic nail artist training hand, misc small plastic items.

Remember that your body comes first

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Max Blotas

, 2020, blackberry leaf, water, motor, micro-controller (Arduino), car light glass panel, misc small plastic parts.

Video credit: Dexter Lander

15405-original-6_Blotasremember_that_your_body_comes_first1.jpg

Remember that your body comes first

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Max Blotas

, 2020, blackberry leaf, water, motor, micro-controller (Arduino), car light glass panel, misc small plastic parts.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

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Spinning blossom

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Max Blotas

, 2020, fossil, motor, micro-controller, plastic nail artist training hand.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

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can’t read it all

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Max Blotas

, 2020, papyrus, blue backlit LCD screen, aluminium tubing, gooseneck, nail artist training hand, Raspberry Pi connected to an email spam folder.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

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Take me home swamp (refreshed) at Bubble Rock and nor sad or glad crappy creek

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Max Blotas

, 2020, self sustaining ecosystem controlled by computer - from top descending: "take me home", "Crappy Creek", "at Bubble Bock", "Home swamp (reshreshed)" , “nor sad or happy”.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

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at Bubble Rock

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Max Blotas

, 2020, transparent container, water, laser, concrete block, chewing gum (bubble mint), water atomiser, IP camera, PVC pipes, digital sensors.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

Home swamp (not refreshed) - detail shot from inside the container

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Max Blotas

, 2020, transparent container, infrared camera and LED panel, coloured perspex, micro-controller (Arduino), water, concrete blocks, seaweed, fish tank pump, PVC tubing, misc plastic items, digital sensors.

Photograph by Dexter Lander

Home swamp (not refreshed) - video feed

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Max Blotas

, 2019, transparent container, infrared camera and LED panel, coloured perspex, micro-controller (Arduino), water, concrete blocks, seaweed, fish tank pump, PVC tubing, misc plastic items, digital sensors.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

2018-2020
Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (UK)
MFA in Sculpture

2015-2018
École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris (FR)
Fine Arts BA

2012-2014
Université de Strasbourg/ Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès
History BA

Prizes, scholarships or awards

2018
Thaddaeus Ropac Prize (Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts)

2018-2019
Nancy Balfour Trust Scholarship

2018
Kenza Fondation (Institut de France) Scholarship

Exhibitions

Nor glad or happy the bouncer can’t read it all and remember that your body comes first, for old love at Bubble Rock and Crappy Creek take me home spinning blossom it might not last / POOL PARTY (solo show)
Danby Street, London (GB)
June 2020

Sly Composition (group show c. by Camille Lemille)
ISELP, Brussels (BE)
June 2019

Fantôme + AAVE (group show c. by Cesar Kaci & Aliha Thalien)
Le Medicis Gallery, Paris (FR) and Vapaan Tailen Tila, Helsinki (FI)
April 2019

ICART Prize
Elephant Paname, Paris (FR)
January 2019

Exposition des Lauréat des Amis des Beaux-Arts (group show c. by Marine Delveno)
Gallery Agnes b., Paris (FR)
September 2018

Décadence (group show c. by Double Séjour)
Fanklin Azzi, Paris (FR)
September 2018

Taches Aveugles (group show curated by Chedly Atallah)
La Maréchalerie, Versailles (FR)
September 2018

CLIMAX (solo show)
Atelier Saulniers, Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris (FR)
June 2018

Ratafia (group show c. by Chedly Atallah)
Collectif 23, Paris (FR)
February 2018

Didascalie (group show c. by Camille Lemille)
R2D2, Brussels (BE)
January 2018

Détours Numériques (group show)
Chapelle, Valaurie (FR)
October 2017

 

Price List

For prices and commissions, please contact maxblotas@gmail.com

NB: The Slade School of Fine Art does not act as an intermediary for sales, nor is it liable for any disputes arising from sales of artworks.